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These last few days have been a sweet wrap-up of the Labour Day weekend and in our Hare Krishna culture the calendar called for Krishna Jayanti, (meaning His birthday) followed by Prabhupada’s birth anniversary. It is all a hell of a time (meant in a good way). There is a catering to thousands of people and this is going on all over the world at this time of year.

For a change and some calmness Krishna Prema Rupa, Jagannatha, Monila and I drove to Woodbine Beaches before sunrise and took to t

James from Ottawa was my guy to take me back home — back to Toronto. I was intending to make the trip adventurous and with a pilgrimage quality to it. “Let’s break up this usual five hour drive,” I said to James. He was quite keen for a little recreation.

Through the perfect weather, rain overnight and sun, at a moderate temperature, was ideal for our car zipping through farm and rock country. At Silver Lake, off of a branch of the Trans Canada Highway was our stop over place. The water was h

The picture is stunning with compassion in his eyes. Our guru, the one we are indebted to for turning lives around. How can one forget the person who actually gave us life, in that I mean a purpose.

What is the business where we merely attempt to survive? The animals are employed in that process 24/7. We have been there. No need to play such old reruns when you have purpose.

With purpose there are principles. You have solid ground. You have an anchor. Otherwise it is a case of “a rudderless

With my reconnection to the bus tour group I am happy to be of that regimen again. The drivers of the two buses and the passengers which I described earlier are from different countries and continents. The young men and women are kept engaged, setting up the Festival of India tents at Jean Mance Park, plus there’s kitchen work and a number of other tasks.

My job is of a different nature. It has some flavour of the clerical. While the heat wave persists I can keep somewhat busy in catching up

Look up at a gorgeous sky

Something for a curious eye

It’s so clear, so clean

Expansive and not lean

There’s nothing larger than this space

Holding countless entities in place

Planets, luminaries, each star

Galaxies suspended from so far

There’s no greater envelope

I think not – nope

When evil preys on the mind

A view of the sky makes one unwind

It’s comparable to a stream 

It purges, it’s so pristine

Let’s continue to wonder

What about that awesome colour

At nig

The boys and I went for an outing. A combined group of Montreal and Toronto monks took to the residential sidewalks. Monks move, or at least some do. Some are hermits, very stationary, others amble along with the itchy feet syndrome. Either way, they have God on their mind.

Our boys are on the move. Our promenade took us to the Olympic Stadium, the Bio Dome, the Planetarium, all located in a space together. We definitely took advantage of walking and were not compelled to go inside any of the

I asked one of our directors for ISKCON Montreal shortly after arriving, “What topic should I speak on for today’s Sunday gathering?” His name is Saumeer, who paused for a few seconds and then responded, “Please speak on any subject?” I thought about it and then came to the conclusion that this fifth month, day 24 will tell me. I looked up Chapter 5, verse 24 from the Gita and found the verse appropriate. It was very pertinent to the crowd after which many questions arose. Here it is with expla

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
             After sojourning millions of lives to completeness
             I awaken to such a sound of sweetness
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
             And substitute a nasty chat room
             Filling in an empty vacuum
Hare Rama Hare Rama
            The warrior very deep in you
            Is pushing for a successful coup
Rama Rama Hare Hare
           In establishing a good king and queen
           A restart, defining a new ‘clean’

I don’t mind crowds but there is a limit before feeling claustrophobic. The day prior in Stratford we had the pleasure of cramming in 200 of us Hare Krishnas in front of the City Hall. There is always pleasure in leading a kirtan chanting session which is what I did (with the gang) in front of the hall, and a special plus was being accompanied by trumpet, guitar, and djembe. However, you can only go for so long before you feel the crowd is too much.

To gain some space and downtime I decided i

Special guests have come. To start off I must mention Malati, a true stalwart of the Krishna Consciousness Movement. It is not her first time to the Vaishnava Sangha. Being that pioneer that she is, she captivates the audience with her stories of yesteryear, when ISKCON had its humble beginnings. But more particularly she tells us of the magnanimous ways in which the Founder of the Krishna movement, Prabhupada, engaged women and empowered them in ways that most people are not aware of.

Visiti

It was a day of joy. Three classes I gave today and one was a zoom call with a group of brahmacharis (monks) from different European countries. That is the good side of technology. I detected there were some monks on the other end of the line to be extrovert and some reserved. That’s natural. You get both. Our topic was “Real Relationships”. What triggered that subject is we see that at times spiritual practitioners can be rigid and fail to cultivate that more personal side. Everyone needs vali

“Being at a crossroads in life,” is what they say. Well, I was there, but it was a long time ago. I hit that intersection when I was 20, when I wasn’t quite sure what I would do with myself. What career should I pursue?” I couldn’t see me becoming a starving artist. Who would be my friend? Will I find a true lover? Or would I be content going totally solo? Should I go right or left? Maybe straight ahead? Going backwards was out of the question.

I met the guys in orange, men of the cloth. I di

Morning sun speaks saying, “Come on in. Bathe in my splendour!” I listened and so, that’s what I did. So from the corner of Jordan and Roy, where the Iskcon temple exists, I began walking a loop. Through this stroll I walked the edge of a park, went through a middle class residential, a retail shopping strip, back to the residential and to return where I started from. The diversity is fun but what remains consistent throughout, apart from swinging legs and arms, is the chanting - the utterance

I circled Sparta Lake one last time on this trip for four circumambulations, observing birds in pairs - the red-winged black bird, red cardinals, gold finches, ducks, geese. One single bird stood out alone - the heron, who is often like a hermit. There it was, single-pointed in thought, patient for a fish to appear. Well, I wasn’t patient enough to wait for a poisson to come as bait.

I was in a hurry with that last revolution of the lake. Haripad whisked me away for a drive to Pennsylvania an

The sun was attempting to burn through the fog. It succeeded although it brought on so little warmth to the day. At the Teaching Garden clear cups of corn substance were placed over the new seedlings. The chills of the last two days are unseasonable.

Personally I was charmed and warmed by the teacher in the garden Tapapunja, a disciple of Prabhupada, hails from north Michigan, but has been a resident of this village, New Vrindavana, for years. He is a true advocate of the motto “simple living

“You will have some physical complications in the future,” said Jagannath as he read my right palm. “Your lines indicate you are good at communication,” is what he concluded with after a quick glance.

Jagannath, now 93, has been a palm reader for most of his life. I remember how he would be so popular at the Chariot Fest in both Vancouver and Toronto. Those line-ups were huge. People are curious to know more about themselves, probing perhaps into the future. Reading palms is an ancient scienc

Rain bursts come and go in Mauritius. It is diverse as far as weather goes. We are striking it lucky at Belle Mara in the morning. We are enjoying the stars first, then the sun. A local monk, Bhakti Sundar Chaitanya Swami had joined us today, just in time for our Bhagavatam lesson.

A second swami came into my day. Dear friend BB Govinda Swami, formerly Ayodhya Pati, arrived yesterday and graciously accepted my visit. As usual we spoke about old times. He had already put time in with services

The Chariot Fest, also known as Ratha Yatra, is a successful one, considering the good attendance here in Durban since its inception 35 years ago. To throw together a great party by the local Durban Krishna Conscious community is a large undertaking. Funds must be raised, purchasing, cooking, decorating, securing permits, entertainers preparing, accommodating guests from abroad, transportation of goods and people etc.

I walked around the grounds to meet the organizers, out of my own interests

I have to say that it is not only rewarding to be of service in the thespian field but I’ve seen, in a positive way, here in South Africa, community theatre has really taken off. I first arrived in South Africa to help with the Festival of Chariots to provide drama in the year 2000. There was one young chap, Gopal, who was a natural. He went on to be an actor in Johannesburg and now an acting teacher in Ireland. 

Another local chap was great in some of our productions with the use of his voic